Tuesday, 19 November 2013

Germany pledges five years of scholarships for PhDs, Masters

By Prosper Makene

19th November 2013

Prof Sylvia Temu

The government has signed a five-year Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Republic of German through the
German Academic Exchange Services (DAAD) to award at least 30 Tanzanian
Students with scholarships to study in Germany.

Speaking in an interview at the cerebrations of 40 years anniversary of
DAAD Alumni Association in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Ministry of
Education and Vocational Training Director of Higher Education, Prof.
Sylvia Temu, said that MoU will assist about 20 PhD students and 10
Masters Degree students to undergo their studies in German.

Temu noted that about 1470 people have already benefited from the DAAD
scholarships in the past 40 years, and the DAAD plans to assist 20
students every year.

DAAD Regional Office for Africa Director Christoph Hansert held that
over the past 40 years DAAD has been the hub for science cooperation
between East Africa and German through individual sponsorship and
partnerships between universities.

The flagship of the cooperation is the Tanzanian German Centre for East
Africa Legal Studies (TGCL). Set by the University of Bayreuth and the
School of Law of the University of Dar es Salaam, the TGCL has been
established as a think tank on the EAC-law.

In a different development, speaking at the anniversary themed: ‘Water
Supply and Sanitation Services in Tanzania’ Counselor for Development
Cooperation from the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Lena
Thiede said Germany has committed to provide at least 25 million people
in Sub-Sahara Africa with sustainable access to drinking water and 5
million people with access to sanitation by 2015.

“In Tanzania, Germany has been supporting the water sector development
programme focusing on urban water supply and sanitation as well as
capacity building on national, regional and local levels. Our now
bilateral development programme has a volume of Euro 45 Million in just 3
years” she said.

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Portfolio
Manager, Viktor Wetzel, said Tanzania faces serious challenges with
regard to water supply and sanitation services (WSS) which arise from a
high population growth and a declining availability of water resources.

Wetzel underscored that WSS in the country is also faced with an
inadequate management and maintenance of existing infrastructure, and
the failure to replace assets or extend infrastructure according to the
needs, in particular with regard to un- or underserved urban areas.

“For about 20 Years now, GIZ (former GTZ) is active in the water sector
in Tanzania. Our activities started in the Kilimanjaro Region. With the
start of our current program (10 yrs. ago), GIZ works closely together
with the Ministry of Water and provides support in basically 5 working
areas including Direct Advisory to the Ministry of Welfare, Direct
advisory to the regulatory body EWURA, Water Resource Management with
focus on adaptation to climate changes, poor water supply and sanitation
as well as Capacity Development,” he said.